The Stakeholder

VA-11: Keith Fimian Refused Employees Access to Birth Control

Posted by Brandon English
Oct 17, 2008

DCCC Press:

While Republican Candidate Keith Fimian (VA-11) claims to support a woman's access to birth control, a heath care plan for Fimian's company made available on Virginia blogs shows that Fimian refused to cover contraceptives for his employees under his company's heath care plan.

Fimian's plan also explicitly states that even if a woman's life was at risk an abortion would not be covered, a position even more extreme than Fimian's stated anti-choice stance.

"Keith Fimian has proven that he is too extreme for Northern Virginia, given his opposition to life-saving stem cell research and his radical anti-choice views," said Kyra Jennings, Southern Regional Press Secretary for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. "Now, we learn that Keith Fimian actually refused the women who worked for him access to contraceptives. Keith Fimian's extreme values are out of touch with the need of Northern Virginia families."

Background

Keith Fimian's health care plan does not cover "any oral contraceptives used for birth control." [Raising Kaine, 10/16/08; Left of The Hill Blog, 10/16/08]

Keith Fimian's health care plan also included does not cover "any expenses incurred directly or indirectly as the result of an abortion. This exclusion applies to all abortion services including those performed when the covered person's health is placed in permanent jeopardy." [Raising Kaine, 10/16/08; Left of The Hill Blog, 10/16/08]

23 states currently have laws that generally say if an insurer or plan covers other prescription drugs and/or outpatient services, it must also cover contraceptives and contraceptive services. [Contraceptive Equity Laws in the States, Center for Reproductive Rights, 1/4/06]

Keith Fimian has claimed he is not opposed to contraceptive use. From the Washington Post: "Although [Keith Fimian] is opposed to fetal stem cell research and to abortion unless the life of the mother is at risk, he is also opposed to the death penalty, he said. He is not, as some of the mailings have suggested, opposed to contraceptive use." [Washington Post, 9/10/08]